How long does it take for a nation to be truly developed? The question is a tough one to answer. It is like asking how long it takes a person to be truly qualified as “educated”, and the response can be as open-ended as it gets. In reality, though, there are many factors that contribute to a country’s development, and we all have a role to play in it.
India@100 must become not only a global superpower but also a technologically advanced and educated nation with no room for poverty, inequality, and hunger. However, the path to making the economic transition from a developing nation to a developed one is overrun with several challenges and obstacles. The solution lies in proactive public-private partnerships, industry-academic collaborations, and forward-looking development strategies.
Reaping the demographic dividend
According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India’s demographic dividend — if the working population is productively employed — can power the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the current $3 trillion to $40 trillion by 2047. Such is the power of our biggest strength, our demographic dividend. In the next few decades, our country will be a talent powerhouse and the largest contributor to the global workforce.
Reaping this dividend, however, requires a calibrated and integrated approach. To transform the population dynamics into a powerful growth engine, the focus must be on formulating and implementing policies incorporating education, health care and bridging the massive skill gap. This becomes even more significant for the largely unbanked and underserved women population of India.
Digital India and the 5G revolution
Empowered by the digital revolution, India is rapidly transforming into a smart and sophisticated economy in the 21st century. Digital technologies — including artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality — are forming the building blocks of a hi-tech economy. With more than 600 million internet users, India is now one of the largest countries in the world for online connectivity and a strong player in the global market for information technology services possessing deep digital capabilities. This increase in access to technology has also been accompanied by a corresponding rise in India’s internet economy, which is expected to touch $1 trillion by 2030.
Moreover, the launch of 5G is poised to generate new economic opportunities and growth avenues, boosting industrial productivity. It holds the potential to unleash the true power of innovation, opening up a world of opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises.
Leveraging the digitally enabled India
The potential for this technology-driven revolution is huge: It could change how we live, work, play, and even think about ourselves as a nation. It could alter the socioeconomic fabric of the country by providing opportunities for all citizens and helping bridge the rich-poor divide. A large population living in poverty hinders our progress because it remains without access to meaningful employment or enterprise, especially in rural areas. A digitally empowered society and knowledge economy can help overcome this hurdle by enabling us to capitalise on our enormous human capital.
Digitally enabled India, supported by key pillars such as education and skill development, can empower people across the country, including from the hinterland, to participate in the economy and create meaningful employment opportunities. Potentially, this can stem the migration towards urban centres which in turn will give breathing space to our overcrowded cities.
The digital revolution has facilitated a network of people who are able to interact with not just each other, but also politicians, leaders, and citizens of the global world. It has also created new ways for people to have access to information and opine on what’s happening around them — ensuring that the country’s development story takes into account diverse voices. An inclusive growth trajectory for India over the next 25 years will be a success story told across boundaries of caste, class, religion and gender. In embracing its time-cherished secular fabric, India’s story will be a testament to the ideal that economic prosperity across social and religious strata is measured solely by socio-economic indicators and not by lenses that magnify petty differences among fellow humans.
Bridging the rural-urban gap
Success becomes a tangible reality, not when you must go places, but when your product or services do — no matter where it is conceptualised, manufactured, produced, implemented, and distributed in the world. And to facilitate this, the government’s flagship Digital India initiative, enabling access to affordable internet services and promoting digital literacy across the country, will play a huge role.
While material interventions are needed, the foundation of India’s development will be laid by our intellectual capabilities — the way we see our problems, people, and prosperity. India’s geographical landscapes and cultural richness have always wowed the world. But as we march on the road to prosperity, it will not come without a cost that every developed nation is grappling with: An increase in carbon footprint. And this is where our culture of simple living and high thinking — a lesson that the world has always sought from India — will guide us. Spiritual India will have to be at the heart of an innovation-led developing India.
India is already a leading voice in climate conversations, and our 2030 sectoral visions are very much aligned with our sustainability goals. But there is one vital change that needs to happen — the change of seeing our future in our villages. Following India’s Independence from colonial rule, Mahatma Gandhi had said, “The future of India lies in its villages.” As our cities struggle under the weight of skewed urban planning, now is the moment to revisit these words. As we realise the vision of being a global superpower, I want to see India returning to its roots — the villages. Not just for cosmetic changes in quality of life or lifestyle for the urban affluent, but with people from small towns and villages opting for reverse migration backed by economic benefits and tech-aided new-age opportunities. That is my vision of a New India.
Deep Kalra is founder and chairman, MakeMyTrip
The views expressed are personal.
